


Vinegar Vows

by Ahmerst



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-26 02:05:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4985857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ahmerst/pseuds/Ahmerst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obligatory beach episode but with much less sunshine and a lot more romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vinegar Vows

Aoba thought his urge was split second, something decided in the middle of the night as he and Ren settled in for the night, bodies tucked close in the dark.

“We should go out tomorrow,” Aoba said, nosing against Ren. He smelled clean and light, like fresh laundry.

“We should,” Ren agreed, taking Aoba in his arms. 

They kissed as they always did before sleeping, slow and unhurried. After years of being together, no longer did they drift off with the worry that the other might be gone the next day. Their rest was absent of the nightmares that had plagued them in the beginning, the night terrors of losing one another.

In the morning they showered and dressed, Aoba watching with a sense of pride as Ren buttoned his pants and zipped his jacket. The actions were small but meaningful, their ease belying the years of physical therapy it had taken Ren to achieve them with such smoothness. Though still he struggled at times, his fingers clumsy when he’d knit them with Aoba’s, his nails uneven lengths when he tried to trim them on his own.

But these were charming faults, endearing Ren nearer to Aoba than ever before. And it was as Aoba recalled those fond thoughts that he paused, eyes settling on the calendar as he stepped into his shoes. The date was vaguely familiar, and as he ran it through his mind it clicked into place.

Five years. It had been five years since he received the phone call that said there was someone he knew in the hospital.

“Is something wrong, Aoba?” Ren asked, smoothing the front of his jacket down before putting on his own shoes.

“Oh, no,” Aoba said, shaking his head. “It’s nothing.”

“Your expression appears quite pensive,” Ren noted, his gaze serious.

Aoba felt his lips softening into a smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I think you’re the one thinking too hard these days,” he teased.

“Perhaps,” Ren admitted, frowning for a moment as he considered it. “I do feel as though I am meant to recall something.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Aoba said, taking Ren’s hand in his. He squeezed it once, and Ren squeezed back. “Let’s just enjoy the day, alright?”

\---

They had no plans when they set out. At first they ambled, wanderlust settling into their bones and forcing their footsteps. Nothing held their attention for long, no shop windows scouted for more than a minute, no enticing scents from the restaurants they passed drawing them inside. By the time their aimless wandering had become apparent, they’d come to a halt beside a bus stop.

“Want to catch the next one?” Aoba asked, peering down the road. He could see the bus in the distance, its large window front barely catching the sunlight that filtered through the heavy clouds above.

“I see no reason to disagree,” Ren said.

Neither of them checked the number of the bus or asked where it was heading, instead retreating to empty seats after feeding their fare into the machine. They found themselves sequestered to the back, Ren seated near the window while Aoba was by the aisle. The upholstery was an uneasy shade of cream that may have once been white, and there was a permeating scent of vinegar in the air.

But Aoba didn’t mind, his hand again seeking Ren’s out as they trundled along bumpy roads. The bus filled slowly, passengers trickling in at each stop. Aoba found himself leaning against Ren’s shoulder as time went on, his eyes unfocused as he listened to Ren’s easy breathing. Where once Aoba would have been mortified that their closeness in public would draw gazes and elicit hushed whispers, Aoba no longer cared.

Ren was a part of him, had always been a part of him, and no amount of unwanted attention could change that. Though Aoba and Ren existed as two individuals now, they were closer than they had been before, keenly aware of one another’s presence at all times, the hours they spent apart due to work shifts weighing heavily on their minds.

It was like wearing wet socks, or sleeping with an arm or a leg overhanging the bed. Benign yet unbearable, something neither of them desired.

“We’ve been on this bus before,” Ren said suddenly, pulling Aoba from his meandering thoughts.

“We have?” Aoba asked. He rolled his shoulders and yawned, worried the smell of vinegar was going to stick to his clothes.

“Before, when we went to the beach,” Ren prompted, gaze fixed outside the window. “I remember these trees.”

Aoba leaned forward in his seat to watch the passing scenery. There was a familiarity to it, stirring the weathered memories in his mind. It looked different now though, no longer washed out with the brightness of summer but instead an array of muted reds and browns, the leaves turning quickly with the cooling weather.

They got off at the next stop without discussing it, both of them driven to be near the beach by the same instinct. There was no chance of sunburn this time as they hiked along the path to the beach, the sands pale and empty of any vacationers when they reached it. The water was the same troubled gray as the sky. Frothy waves churned along the shore, no doubt too cold for them to walk in.

“It’s been awhile,” Aoba said, his step effortlessly synced with Ren’s as they walked. 

“It has,” Ren agreed, his voice nearly carried away by the blustering wind. “But it’s nice.”

Aoba hummed and nodded, hugging onto Ren’s arm and lowering his head as his hair was whipped about his face. Being back here eased the tension that had been building in his body since the night before, what made him want to leave the house to begin with. The coiling anxiety in his muscles had ebbed, a sense of belonging filling him now as he walked along the shoreline. 

Aoba told himself their steps were purposeless, but he knew the path they were taking. It wasn’t long before the spire of the church he’d known as a child was peeking above the trees, a light drizzle misting him and Ren as they approached it. By the time the rest of it had become visible, the drizzle had turn steadier, starting to soak into their clothes as the quickened their step, nearly at a run when the first flash of lightning lit the sky.

The creak of the church’s doors as Ren and Aoba pushed them open was swallowed up by the dull roll of thunder. Aoba’s laughter was breathless as he dripped water onto the old flooring, Ren shaking his head in the most animalistic of ways to shed the excess rain. It took a steadying minute and two more flashes and lightning before they gathered their senses, casting their gazes about the church from their childhood.

The windows that once showcased stained glass were blown out and jagged, the outside rain wetting the frames. There was an old musk hanging in the air, settling into their lungs and tinging the atmosphere with a sense of deja vu. Beneath their feet the tiles were cracked, weeds forcing their way upwards, scraggly and green.

Stepping further into the church, his path following the aisle that ran through the middle of the room, Aoba found the carpet beneath his feet worn and faded, the colors gone and pattern muddied after so many years. When a lizard scurried from behind one of the pews and Aoba stepped back in surprise, Ren was there to catch him from behind, strong hands gripping Aoba’s shoulders to steady him.

“Are you okay?” Ren asked.

“I’m okay,” Aoba said, his nose wrinkling in amusement at the old exchange rearing its head. 

It was hardly a moment before Ren’s hands were dropping from Aoba’s shoulders, instead taking one of Aoba’s hands in his, steady at his side as they slowly made their way up the aisle. 

“I’ve been wanting to come here for some time,” Ren admitted.

“Ah, really?” Aoba asked. “I guess... I’ve felt the same.”

The desire had been lurking in the back of his mind since the last time they were at the beach, the church something they’d spied but hadn’t visited. There was a natural draw to the church, the kind that drove animals to return to their birthplace year after year. A compulsion he couldn’t ignore.

“It’s weird that this is kind of where it all started, and now we’re back here again,” Aoba continued, smiling wryly.

To think this place held his earliest memories. Ones where Ren was with him, and today still at his side. 

Despite being his own person now, it hadn’t put distance between them. Ren had become an entity unto himself, one that Aoba loved in a way he beyond what he considered capable. He loved each little mannerism Ren had picked up. From the soured face he made when he ate olives, to how his head cocked when he heard a new song. Not to mention the raspy bark of a laugh he let out when he told a joke funny only to himself.

And now here Ren was, slowing his stride as they reached the altar, turning to look at one another with joined hands. Aoba smiled at Ren’s expression, eyes puppyish and soft, eyebrows drawn with the slight anxiety born from his constant concern and vigilance. 

“I think if anyone told me all these years ago that this would happen─ that I’d turn out to be some test tube kid, that my dog was... sorta me. That we were going to have to take down a comically villainous old dude, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Ren nodded seriously. “The likelihood of a single thing you have mentioned being true is highly improbable, so to think that all of them would come to pass is difficult to believe.”

“I’m happy things turns out like they did, though. Even if you had to leave... it was worth it. All of this was worth it,” Aoba said, his voice wavering for a moment.

“And I am happy too,” Ren said. “If I were to remain nothing more than your allMATE, I would still remain happy. As long as you are by my side, no one can take the joy of your presence from me.”

Aoba flushed at the heartfelt words, his pulse stammering as much as his words when he tried to speak. Ren remained the picture of composure, his breathing a steady in and out while Aoba’s was fast and shallow. Aoba became suddenly aware of their closeness, how Ren had leaned in to rest their foreheads together, eyes closing.

It struck Aoba that this would have looked like a wedding ceremony to anyone else. Two people standing in front of an altar, hands joined and skin touching. The quiet peace that their presence provided to one another. And then the kiss that Ren pressed to his lips, slow and sweet, lingering as Aoba kissed back. This was right. This was what his body had been urging him to do from the start.

“Till death do we part?” Aoba asked, foot scuffing the floor.

“No,” Ren said. His breath was sweet as it skimmed over Aoba‘s lips, his hands squeezing Aoba‘s reassuringly. “Longer than that.”


End file.
